Summer, 1926. Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley take refuge from the blazing heat of Paris in a villa in the south of France. They swim and play bridge, and drink gin with abandon. But wherever they go they are accompanied by the glamorous and irrepressible Fife. Fife is Hadley’s best friend. She is also Ernest’s lover. Hadley is the first Mrs. Hemingway, but neither she nor Fife will be the last. Each Mrs. Hemingway thought their love would last forever; each one was wrong.

Narrated by Hemingway’s four wives—Hadley, Fife, Martha, and Mary—and peopled with members of the fabled “Lost Generation”—including Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott Fitzgerald—Mrs. Hemingway paints a complex portrait of the man behind the legend and the women behind the man, a riveting tale of passion, love, and heartbreak.

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Quotes & Awards

“Wood has given us a fascinating, astutely
observed, gorgeously written account of the Hemingway wives and their
charismatic, enigmatic, troubled, and troublesome husband. This is a gem of a
book.”

Therese Ann Fowler, New York Times bestselling author of Z

“Naomi Wood’s absorbing, illuminating novel
offers fascinating portraits of four extraordinary women and the tortured
literary genius who loved them. If you thought you knew all there was to
know about Ernest Hemingway’s wives, their passions, and their heartbreak,
think again.”

Jennifer Chiaverini, New York Times bestselling author of Lincoln’s Rival

“Forget everything you thought you knew about
Ernest Hemingway’s four wives. In a quartet of searing interlocked portraits,
Naomi Wood brings vividly to life the real women who loved and lost the legendary
charmer and great writer. Mrs. Hemingway is a luminous,
heartbreaking novel. Wood is a writer to watch.”

“Luminous, intoxicating…A passionate novel based
on real lives, full of betrayals and moments of heartbreaking intimacy as Wood
gives four remarkable women star billing.”

Marie Claire (UK)

“Well researched…interesting…[and] cleverly
done.”

Literary Review (UK)

“Exquisitely written, the Mrs. Hemingways
finally have their say in this beautiful novel.”

Stylist Magazine (UK)

“A beautiful read and an amazing insight into
the life of the man…superb.”

Red (UK)

“It takes an unusual skill to keep someone
reading a story to which they think they already know the ending. But Mrs.
Hemingway is so beautifully written, and evocative, that I could not
put it down until the last page.”

Jojo Moyes, author of Me before You

“Very occasionally, a piece of fiction based on
facts is so good that I catch myself thinking: ‘Oh, so that’s how it really
was.’ Wood achieves this in this breathtakingly good look at the lives of
Ernest Hemingway’s four wives…Sublime.”

Bookseller (UK)

“British author Wood has written a well-researched
novel about Hemingway’s spouses, pulling material from personal letters
and archives. Each wife tells her own story, effortlessly moving the
reader through almost forty years of Hemingway’s life…Each woman’s story flows seamlessly into the next, providing a detailed
account of Hemingway’s erratic nature.”

Library Journal

“While Hemingway’s stories are known worldwide, Wood
used copious love letters, diaries, and telegrams to flesh out the stories that
these women might have told. Flitting from bohemian 1920s Paris to sunny
Havana, from Paris in the days of WWII to 1960s America, Mrs. Hemingway spans
eras. Wood’s research gives this passionate story a firm foundation, and
readers who enjoyed Loving Frank and The Paris Wife will adore
this ideal summer read. Seamlessly blending known facts with fiction, Mrs.
Hemingway is an absorbing, tender glimpse inside the lives of those in
Hemingway’s inner circle.”

Booklist

“The four wives of Ernest Hemingway—each loved, each abandoned—are given
understated yet telling voices as they recount their relationships with a
mercurial giant of literature…With its delicate phrasing, softly voiced but insightful portraits, and
unsensational handling of the love triangles, Woods’ novel revisits
literary myth with restrained empathy.”

Kirkus Reviews

“It’s superb, everything about it—the sentences,
details, dialogue, but also the architecture, the way it’s built. It flirts
with all that’s already known, but the women feel real and fresh, and through
their eyes so does Hemingway.”

Andrew Cowan, author of Pig

“A detailed and deeply affecting account of the
complex relationship between love and work.”

Ian Sansom, author of The Case of the Missing Books

“With remarkable insight and boldness, Naomi
Wood brilliantly takes on one of history’s most remembered writers and the
women who loved him. Obsessively readable, fascinating, and heartbreaking, Mrs.
Hemingway captures a time and people in a style the legend himself
would no doubt admire.”

About the Author

Naomi Wood was awarded the 2012 inaugural Eccles
Centre British Library Writer in Residence Award. She is the Young Patrons
Ambassador at the British Library and teaches at Goldsmiths University.
She lives in London.

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